Crash in the French Alps

Rescue workers search the mountainside where a Germanwings plane crashed, killing all 150 people on board.

Investigators said the remoteness of the crash site meant it could be days before a clear picture of the tragedy emerged. They said that the crash scenario did not appear to be linked to depressurisation and ruled out a mid-air explosion having taken place.

24 Mar 2015. BARCELONA, Spain. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Family members arrived at Barcelona's El Prat airport, many crying and with arms around each others' shoulders, accompanied by police and airport staff.

Most of the victims are German or Spanish. Among them are 16 German schoolchildren returning to Duesseldorf airport after a trip to the Barcelona region.

25 Mar 2015. Haltern am See, Germany. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

"On Tuesday last week we sent off 16 happy, young people with two happy, young teachers on a journey," said Ulrich Wessel, headmaster of the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school.

"It was meant to be a journey full of joy, a school exchange that we've been doing for six years. It ended in tragedy," added Wessel. "Our school will never be the same again."

25 Mar 2015. Seyne-les-Alpes, France. REUTERS/Christophe Ena

French, German and Spanish leaders travelled to the remote Alpine region to pay tribute to the victims of crash.

A simple tribute ceremony took place on a site with a view in the distance of the mountain against which the Airbus crashed. French officials arranged it to give the families a mental image of the area in which their relatives died.

25 Mar 2015. PARIS, France. Reuters/BEA

Investigators said they had extracted cockpit voice recordings from one of the plane’s black boxes and expected to have a read-out of their content within days. They will also need the other black box which records flight data, information that is essential for probing air accidents.